The Kuroko Effect
by PiotrChekov
Summary: The butterfly effect is a theorized idea that if you were to travel back in time and stopped a butterfly from flapping its wings that you would start a domino effect in time. Everything would change. So I pose the question to you reader, what would've happened if Kuroko never went to Serin, but stayed with his original light, Aomie Daiki, instead? Established!Aokuro and KagaKuro.
1. Chapter 1

The pamphlets laid over the table were all different colors. Ranging from orange and green to blue and yellow. He had taken them all from the counselor's office and organized them into NOs, YES's, and MAYBEs. The NO pile, labeled with a red sticky note, consisted of five main schools. To be more specific, it consisted of each school he knew for a fact that the other regulars were going to.

Kaijo – Kise

Shutoku – Midorima

Rakuzan – Akashi

Yosen – Atsushi

And of course, Tōō Academy – Aomine. He'd spent more time thinking about whether or not to put that school in the NO or MAYBE pile than he did any other. The last time he'd spoke with the dark skinned boy was the last time he bothered to show up to practice. Which was a while ago. Although he'd like to say it mostly the other blunette's fault, he blamed himself as well. Even though Aomine had both called and messaged him, he'd ignored the other boy completely.

Mostly because he could already see the look on Aomine's face when he would say; "I'm not going to Tōō." First there would be shock, then disappointment, and finally anger. Kuroko sighed and ran his hands through his hair, looked over the small pieces of paper strewn across his dining room table, and stopped when he saw one that caught his eye.

He reached over and grabbed it, opening it to read the inside. Seirin. It was a young school, only a year old, but according to the paper the basketball team had done quite well the in their first year, making it decently far. He raised his brow. They sounded…perfect.

Then, the doorbell rang. Placing the Seirin pamphlet in the YES pile he stood and headed for the door. Kuroko unlocked the deadbolt and swung the wood slab open. His eyes widened. "Yo, Tetsu, you weren't answering your phone." Aomine pushed his way inside.

"No, I wasn't. Why are you here Aomine-kun?"

The taller boy held up his phone and went stoic. "Because you weren't answering your phone." He walked through the small apartment that Kuroko shared with his parents, and stopped at the table. "You're…looking at schools?"

"Yes."

"Why?" He grabbed the red sticky note off one of the piles, letters in black reading NO on top of it. His fingers fanned out the slick folded up documents. _Kaijo, Shutoku_, he read the names off in his head, surprised by the time he read them all off that every single one of the regular's schools were in the pile. Including his.

Kuroko walked up behind him. "Because I thought I'd open up my options a bit more."

"So by opening up your options you're completely eliminating your friend's schools? Tetsu, what's wrong?"

He debated whether or not to tell him. Tell him that he, and the rest of the team, was so focused on winning that it made him detest anything to do with basketball, that when he was put in a game he hated every second he had to spend playing with that team. He wondered if that would get through Aomine's thick skull. Then again, when he asked 'what's wrong' it was stern and demanding, cold and calculating. It made Kuroko feel like he did when he went on court with the other boy. "I just, need a break from the team."

Aomine shook his head. "That's bull and you know it. What. Is. Wrong."

It was quiet for a long time after that. The two just staring at each other. Aomine glaring daggers into Kuroko's hair, Kuroko pleading the other's feet to leave. When Aomine reached down and grabbed Kuroko's chin, lifting his gaze to meet his own, Kuroko realized he wasn't getting out of this without a decent explanation. Both of their eyes were stiff, as they normally were, then Tetsu closed his. "I hate you. I hate them. I hate playing basketball with all of you. I hate this. I hate Teiko. I just want away from all of you."

Then came the emotions. Shock. Disappointment. Anger.

A fire lit in Aomine's eyes and tightened his grip on Kuroko's chin, causing the lighter haired boy to focus all of his attention on him. "You can't be serious? You never said anything! And yet here you are, lowering yourself to crap like," He grabbed the top pamphlet from the YES pile. "Seirin!?" He rolled his eyes and finally let go of Kuroko. "I thought you were smarter than that. Tetsu." He shoulder checked the shorter boy and headed for the door, storming out.

Kuroko stood there, and stared at the wall. That had gone better than he had expected.

He slammed the door behind him, irate and ready to roll some heads. How could Tetsu do this to him? How could he just blow him off like he was nothing? Aomine was going to get that little baby-blue haired bastard back. His eyes narrowed and he shoved his hands in his pockets, grumbling to himself. "Aominecchi!" He looked up, giving Kise a death glare. "What are you doing at Kurokocchi's?" He smiled and waved.

Aomine reached out and grabbed the blond by his head, fumes rising from his body like flames. "Shut up, or I'll kill you."

"Aww, did you and Kurokocchi have a fight?" Kise, surprisingly, managed to get out of Aomine's death grip and evade the next couple of times the bluenette tried to do it. After five minutes of convincing Aomine that Kise was so invested on knowing what made him so mad that he'd actually follow him home, Aomine spilled the beans. He talked about Kuroko going to a weak school, the shorter boy's hate for them and basketball, and finally he recited everything he had said to Tetsu.

Kise whacked Aomine over the head. "O-Oi! I'll kill you bastard!"

"Baaaka." Kise said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm sorry Aominecchi, but from what I've heard _you're_ the biggest reason you're angry. You probably made Kurokocchi cry." He sighed. "Baka, baka, next time talk things out with people. Especially if you care about them as much as you do Kurokocchi."

The dark skinned boy continued to glare at the blond. "Why are you here?"

"I came to see if everything was alright. Kurokocchi hasn't been answering his phone lately, I thought something was up." Aomine just nodded. "And it's a good thing I came too. Now I'm going to _make_ you make things right with him." He pointed to the door. "Go apologize. Or else."

"Or else what?" He tilted his head.

"Or else I'll tell everyone at school how long that sandwich you ate last week was _really_ in your locker for." Aomine flinched at the memory, and shuddered. Kise tapped his food and raised a brow. "Well, I'm waiting Aominecchi."

The bluenette rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll go apologize." He turned on his heels, and stomped back to where he came from. Kise was following close behind. He banged on the door of the Kuroko family home, and waited for it to open. Kise seemed a bit too excited about this whole situation however, so he shoved the blond to the ground and into a pile of rocks set up for decoration. He then cried.

"Ow! Aominecchi is mean!"

The door swung open. "Shut up." Aomine hissed as Tetsu came into his sights. "Yo."

"Aomine-kun, Kise-kun, what are you two doing here?"

"Aominecc-gacckk!"

A foot placed itself square in the middle of the blonde's stomach to shut him up for a change. "I came to apologize Tetsu. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you when you said you wanted to go to a different school. Now if you don't mind," He took a deep breath, knowing that Kise would get _so_ much pleasure from Aomine using his advice, and said; "I'd like to talk to you about WHY you're choosing to go to a different school than the rest of us."

Tetsu blinked. Then nodded, and moved away from the door. "Bye Kise-kun," And he shut the door on the blonde's face. Aomine smirked, he'd probably go home and cry later. There were whimpers. Scratch that, he'd cry now and become one sight to see when the rest of the Kuroko family came home. "What specifically do you want to talk about?"

"I want to know if there's a way to get you to come to Tōō. I know from experience that your family can afford it, and even if they couldn't you'd get accepted in a heartbeat for your athletic skills and intelligence." He prodded Tetsu in the forehead with his index finger.

"That's very kind Aomine-kun. But right now, like I said, I want a break from the generation of miracles."

"Why? Huh? You keep saying you want a break from us, but why? Maybe if you opened up and told us what was wrong every once in a while we could help, or in this case, change our ways."

And for the first time in a long time, he saw Tetsu smile. He was a bit shocked, but made the appropriate effort to not show it on his face. "Because everything's about winning. We _used_ to be a team of five. Now we're five individuals who just so happen to be on the same side. We stopped working together." Tetsu suddenly looked sad, yet that smile, so rare it was, stayed upon his lips. "And that's why I hate basketball. Because it's no longer fun, it's all about winning."

Aomine had to say he was a bit taken aback. Tetsu's stoic expression that was trade markedly his, never clued into the fact that he hated winning. But it wasn't that was it? He didn't hate to win. He hated the fact that they all played to win. Tetsu wanted to have fun. Like Aomine himself did when he was younger. "I understand." He whispered. "We can change Tetsu. _I_ can change. Apply to Tōō, give me one more year to prove to you that I am who I used to be." He lifted his fist in front of the other's face and smiled. "Just one more chance."

Kuroko stared at the dark fist shoving its way into his vision. He'd never considered the idea of Aomine and the other others turning over a new leaf. Then again at the time he thought they were so far gone that nothing would save them from themselves. He raised his own fist and bumped it to Aomine's. "One more chance Aomine-kun, please don't make me regret this." And then, Aomine smiled, leaning down to engulf Kuroko in a bear hug. "Aomine-kun, you're suffocating me."

**A/N: Whoa. I don't know if I like how that turned out. Oh well, I finished it. This is my first KnB fic and also my first boy's love (yaoi [that's spelled right…right?]) fic. And I apologize in advanced if it gets SUPER cliché and gross and blech. But I hope you all like the concept, I started rewatching S1 and I had this moment where I was all; Holy Jesus, what if Kuroko had been influenced by Aomine enough to attend Tōō with him? Then I was like; Ermerghad, Aokuro. And this is sort of my prologue, but then again its not. Established!Aokuro will be in the next chapter with a SHIT TON of fluff.**

**So yeah… Leave me some beautiful comments and I'll return the favor with some beautiful (hopefully) writing. Be my light, and I will be your shadow *fades out dramatically….***


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: OMG I LOVE ALL OF YOU. The review that were left made me smile for at least an hour and I knew that I had to get on to writing chapter two! Hope you enjoy, sorry if there are spelling mistakes, I don't edit or review my writing until the entire story is finished.**

**Enjoy!**

The only time Kuroko and Aomine saw the rest of the team after school ended was the same day that Kise dimmed the day his life ended. And if you asked him why, he'd explain it like this;

_He was sitting there, minding his own beautiful business when suddenly, out of nowhere, a young sky blue tabby cat came slowly out of the shadows. Its eyes were emotionless, its body calm. Little did it know that a large dark blue panther was prowling from behind. It stalked its prey diligently, only making a move when it could catch the small tabby off guard and wrap its large, dark paw around its shoulder blades and then the panther would kiss the small cat!_

And if you couldn't get it from that, take Midorima's explanation;

_Aomine kissed Kuroko today. Today's horoscope _did_ say that it was a good day for Virgos._

Everyone, excluding Kise, let the event pass as though it had happened a thousands of times, brushing it off as mostly 'I knew it's and 'about time's. The blond however, decided to attack Kuroko – in the most friendly way he could think of.

"Kurokocchi!" He cried, grabbing the thin boy by his shoulders and shaking him slightly. "WHY?! WHY?!"

"Kise-kun, please let go."

The blond complied, but continued to whine. "You let that…that monster take your innocence? For how long?! Why?! When!? How!?" He rubbed his tears, not bothering with the fact that he had managed to repeat some of his questions, and turned to face Aomine. "Aominecchi, you bastard…"

And the dark skinned bluenette shot him a death glare, tightening his arm around Kuroko's shoulders. "As much as I hate to say it," Midorima pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and quirked an eyebrow. "When did this all come into action?"

So the two explained. Well Aomine explained, getting cut off every once in a while by Kuroko who would say; "that never happened" or "I never said/did that". But no matter how many perverted details Aomine tried to add, the story always flowed in the same direction.

**Three weeks earlier…**

"Oi, Tetsu, pass the ball." Aomine held up his hands and spread his fingers, ready for when the ball floated effortlessly through the air into his hands. He had made a decent three pointer from the two-point line. The ball had hit the ground and for some reason bounced over to Tetsu's feet. The shadow had been watching his light play, answering Aomine's curious and random questions here and there, and retrieving the ball when it went awry.

Aomine caught the ball and gave Kuroko a thankful wink before going back to his solo practice. "Say," He threw the ball into the net and went running after it for the millionth time that day. "Tetsu, why did you agree to give me another chance?"

"Because I care about you Aomine-kun." The mocha-skinned teen stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Kuroko.

"Yeah…I uh, care about you too…Tetsu." He scratched at the bumps on the ball, feeling his nerves beginning to overtake him. His whole life he'd always been confident in everything. Basketball, school (even though he was no good at it), social situations, and most of – dating. Then again…Kuroko was Kuroko and chances were his 'caring about' was a platonic kind of caring about…

**(A/N: Who are we kidding this is an Aokuro fanfic, Kuroko is love)**

Tetsu stood. "I know." He held up his hands and waited for Aomine to pass him the ball. "You're not very good at hiding your emotions Aomine-kun." He tossed it at the net, missing it and hitting the rim as usual, and watched it bounce off. "I've known for a while. So has Akashi-kun and Midorima-kun." He put a finger to his chin. "Although I have this feeling that Kise-kun got a whiff of it too."

"Damn that bastard." He scoffed. "Well at least we both know now…you're a great friend Tetsu."

"I could be more you know."

He was dreaming. Yup, dreaming. Kuroko had always been very blunt and open with his emotions, but he did not come off like the type of person who would openly propose the idea of a romantic relationship. Especially not with Aomine Daiki, scary power forward of Teiko's basketball team, with the intensity of a jaguar and the temper of one too.

A hand jabbed him in the side. "Gacckk!" He winced and grabbed at his side. "I keep forgetting that you're really good at that." He rubbed his side.

"You spaced out." Kuroko said bluntly, blinking innocently at Aomine.

Which was ironic because at this point Aomine was 100% positive that his shadow had _nothing_ to be innocent about. "Yeah, I did, sorry about that."

It was quiet a bit longer before Kuroko said anything, the gears turning his head and compiling a good way to get Aomine to stop being so oblivious and (god forbid Aomine ever find out his impression of him) shy. "Aomine-kun, I think I deserve an answer of some sorts."

The other kept his composure, surprisingly, and crossed his arms. "Tetsu, I think you already know the answer."

"I'm probably wrong Aomine-kun, so why don't you voice your answer." He daringly stepped forward.

Aomine smirked, his confidence flowing back into his body like a stream into a lake. "Only if you want, Tetsu."

"Of course I want to."

**Present…**

"Daiki-kun, I never said that."

"Of course you didn't Kurokocchi," Kise had Kuroko's head wrapped up in his arms and squished against his chest. His foot was planted firmly on Aomine's chest, keeping the angry teen at bay as he ran his hand through Kuroko's soft blue hair. "You're too innocent to say something that cheesy and cliché **(*wink*wink*)**, poor Kurokocchi being objected to Aominecchi's terrible fantasies."

Akashi leaned over and tapped Kuroko on the head. "Tetsuya – you started calling him Daiki."

"Yes. He told me to." Kuroko struggled to point at Aomine with his pinned hands.

Said accused, looked shocked and batted Kise's leg away (finally) and grabbed Kuroko by his wrists. "Traitor."

Midorma stood. "Well, on that note, I'll be going."

"Yes, me too." Atsushi said, bowing and leaving after Midorima in the other direction.

Akashi grabbed Kise by the collar of his shirt and began dragging him away from Kuroko and Aomine. "Farewell Tetsuya, Daiki." Aomine nodded as the red-head took Kise away, smirking his victory at the blond.

He snaked his arm around Kuroko's shoulders and tugged him close. "Oi, Tetsu," Kuroko hummed out a 'yes?'. "Do you think you made the right decision, coming to Tōō and all?"

Kuroko turned and stared Aomine in the eyes. "I made the worse decision. But I'm positive we can make it the best one."

It took a moment, but Daiki smiled and chuckled softly. "Yeah, I think we can."

They went to their separate homes, arrived at separate times, yet the next morning, they both received the same thing. Tōō's student uniform.

**A/N: *Hides* …My god that was bad. I apologize. It took me literally all day to write this, mostly because it's a transition chapter that HAD to be written. Plus I had to get the Aokuro relationship in there and yeah…I tried…don't hate the player, hate the game -_-…**

**And I know I promised fluff, but once I FINALLY found a way to start this, there wasn't a real place for it... Although I guess you could consider some of this chapter GoM fluff? Idk...**

**But, as always, please leave me lovely responses below, the more I get that make me smile the faster I (try) to update. ^.^**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: We'll see how this goes…the boy's first day of high school! The next chapter WILL (I PROMISE YOU) have Kagami in it. Even though the idea for the story is based around the idea that one minor detail will screw everything up, some things will stay the same. Including one of my favorite KagaKuro scenes….which you will find out in the next chapter.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

A pale hand reached up and grabbed Aomine by the top of his tie, yanking on his neck and causing the whole top half of his body to bend over. He stared at his shadow, who had that ever so stale expression on his face, as he undid Aomine's tie, called him a moron, and began to retie it. Behind them, the bubbly Momoi, was…not so bubbly. Her infatuation with Kuroko had not ceased even though she knew the two players were together, and every time something happened between the two she got upset.

But that didn't stop the pink tint on her cheeks. Or the hoard of girls around the boys as well. Apparently at Tōō it wasn't that common that two teenage boys were completely open about their relationship with each other, much less two future sports players. In all honesty however, no matter how much she hated it, Momoi couldn't deny the fact that one, Kuroko and Aomine fit together like perfectly shaped puzzle pieces, and two, the image of the taller (and more muscular) boy leaning over at the shorter (far less muscular) boy.

Once Aomine saw that they were surrounded he smacked Kuroko's hands away. The shadow stared at him. And if those weren't the eyes of a puppy… Daiki gave in leaned back over, letting the baby-blue haired boy continue to retie the black and red string hanging off of his neck. "There." Kuroko said, turning and heading for the front door of the building. There was a long silence in their crowd of onlookers. That is until Aomine ran after him, a series of 'awwws' erupting from the crowd.

"So, feeling regretful yet?"

"It's only a matter of time Daiki-kun."

The dark-skinned boy chuckled and wrapped an arm around Kuroko's shoulder, nuzzling his nose into light blue hair. "You're the only person who make me second guess myself."

Blue eyes looked up to him, well as well as they could, staring through clouds of hair. "Is that a bad thing Daiki-kun?"

"Hell no," He smiled and leaned in more to nip at the top of Kuroko's ear. "It's the best thing." He let go of the boy and gave him a curly wave with his fingers. "Have fun in your first period, I'll see you at lunch, 'kay?" Kuroko only nodded, heading for the classroom marked 1-B, and slipping through the doors without so much as a glance from the teacher.

The day went on and if you asked Aomine, it was boring. It had been just like every other first day. The first couple of classes of the day, then orientation, then lunch, then more classes, and then came the Club Run. Something Teiko had learned from the more elite high schools, Tōō being one of them. All the leaders of the clubs would come out of the woodworks and catch you on your way home, either pressuring you into joining right then and there, or shoving their fliers down your throat and happily watching you choke on their words.

After the school day had ended for Aomine Daiki, he knew better than to head out to the courtyard. Plus he had already figured out the layout of the school and knew exactly where the gym was. All he had to do was pick up Kuroko and head for basketball tryouts.

That sounded easier than it seemed however. He may have had been friend with Kuroko for three, almost four years, but damn that kid was elusive – to the point where it seemed that you didn't find him, he found you.

**_Tetsu, where you at man? Meet me at the gym._**

He waited, leaning against one of the large windows that overlooked the courtyard. He smirked as he watched the flood of students try to escape the trap the school had set up for them. His phone beeped.

**_Daiki-kun, there's no need to message me when I'm right behind you._**

He felt a cold chill run up his spine and he turned to see Kuroko flicking his phone shut and tucking it into his pocket. He glared for a moment. "One of these days I'm gonna die because of you, you know that?"

"I assumed so, Daiki-kun."

And then Aomine laughed. Because he knew Kuroko. And even being as tall as he was compared to his shadow, he could see the small flash of sarcasm, of an attempted joke, in the boy's eyes. Then would come the small, corner mouthed smiled. "You're such a sadistic bastard."

They arrived at the gym a tad bit late. Mostly because Aomine somehow managed to lose Kuroko three times, then went off to find him, only to realize that the boy had been by his side the entire time. He'd then get flustered, at both himself and the other bluenette, and then he'd storm off and lose Kuroko all over again. It was a vicious cycle, really.

Momoi was already there, pink hair tied up neatly and clothed in Tōō's female uniform. Her hands rested neatly on her thin hips which were jutted off to the side to show her distress. "You're late." She accused.

"Sue me." Aomine growled, pushing the door open, allowing enough time for both Momoi and Kuroko to get it before letting it shut behind me. "It's not like I really have to be here."

"Daiki-kun, you have to prove your worth just like everyone else here. A track record is nothing but words. It's practically useless in a sport like basketball…Daiki-kun." Both Momoi and Aomine stared at him, not surprised at all that he reprimanded Aomine, but surprised that he did it so logically. Then again…Kuroko seemed to be thinking like that a lot lately. More intellectual rather than emotional.

"O-Okay, yeah, you're right. My bad Tetsu," He held out his hand. "Let's line up, shall we?"

Kuroko nodded, took Aomine's hand, and let the other boy take him over towards the line of newbies. They were all substantially tall, muscle mass far beyond his own, and they had the combined intensity of a lion stalking its prey. Kuroko lined up on the opposite side of Aomine, farthest of the two from the team, and stood straight up, not trying to make himself known, nor unknown.

The coach began walking down the line, asking questions and inspecting the physical attributes of his new potential players. He got to Aomine and grinned. Yes, this would be a good year with a kid like him on his team. He went through his mental questionnaire, already knowing that he liked the boy. "What was your middle school?"

"Teiko, sensei."

"Teiko! And you're a first year? Were you a member of the Generation of Miracles?"

"You could say that."

"Huh, how perfect." He whistled and some scrawny kid brought him a clipboard and he began to write some things down. "Alright, thank you all for coming, I'll let you know whether or not you're accepted tomorrow."

"Excuse me, sensei, but you forgot about my friend." Daiki grabbed Kuroko by the wrist and dragged him out to the front, causing some of the people in the gym to jump or whisper 'when did he get here'. "He's Kuroko Tetsuya."

The coach walked back down the line and nodded to Aomine to let the poor boy go. He then asked Kuroko the same questions he had Aomine, dead set on rejecting the kid. But when he said that he went to Teiko his interested peaked. He didn't bother checking the boy's physical stats, already knowing by one look that he was far weaker than the rest of his team. So he turned to the boy's only reference.

"You, vouch for this boy Aomine-san?" The dark blue hair on his head bounded as Aomine nodded, looking the coach in the eyes and smiling. "Alright, alright, thank you for coming Kuroko-san." And he wrote more on that damn clipboard of his.

Momoi walked out with the boys (technically she had been kicked out by the coach after trying to boss him around a couple of times, but she overlooked that as a misunderstanding) and set her hand on Kuroko's shoulder. "He hasn't seen you play. As long as you're given a chance, you can make the team."

"Thank you Momoi-san. You're very kind."

She smiled. "As always, Tetsu-kun," She leaned over and pecked Kuroko's cheek before running off in the other direction to catch her bus.

Aomine walked Kuroko home, but once they got there, he grabbed Tetsu by his wrists. "Yo, I'm sorry about the looks you got today."

"They weren't your fault Daiki-kun."

"Yeah, I know, but I feel like," His grip tightened. "Like, I should be the shit out of 'em for even daring to look at you like that."

Kuroko wiggled out of Aomine's grip. He stood on his tiptoes, lifted his hands, and cupped Aomine's face. "And that feeling is what is making me fall for you." Tetsu leaned in slowly, not surprised when he felt Daiki wrap his arms around his back and waist, quickening their pace so that he could kiss his boyfriend before next Sunday.

"And that," Aomine said with a victorious grin. "Is why I've already fell for you." He let Tetsu back down to be flat on his feet and pecked the side of his cheek. "See you tomorrow Tetsu, don't wake up to late!" And he walked off to the nearest bus station, while Kuroko headed inside, lay down, and wondered if Tōō _was_ the best decision. For a second, he pondered the idea that Daiki wouldn't change, that getting Kuroko to come to Tōō was just another way to prove that he was unbeatable, the best, at everything.

And even if it was for just a second, he _felt,_ truly felt, that he was a conquest in the eyes of the boy he loved.

**A/N: Whoa...I cranked that out in like an hour. I feel better about this chapter than I do the last one, so hopefully you had fun with it.**

**And, as always, reviews feed writers people! So leave 'em out for me to munch on...**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you all for reading my story and hanging in there with me as I continue to try and update this piece. And I'd like to give a shout out to Muffcakeloverxiii, every review you leave makes me smile and I love-love your support!**

**Now onto to some Kagami and Kuroko moments…**

The lady at the counter quirked an eyebrow as she passed over the tray, barely able to be seen behind the mountain of cheap fast-food burgers. A red haired boy nodded to her, taking the tray and heading for one of the nearest tables. Kagami Taiga unwrapped one of his hamburgers and drifted off into the thought. Basketball tryouts hadn't gone like he had suspected. The freshman and the second-years played a mini game against each other.

All had gone well for the first part of the game, Kagami had been owning the court, then the second-years started to double – even triple – team him. It had gotten to the point where none of the other freshman wanted to pass him the ball to him in fear that it would just get taken. They had lost 21-48. It had been miserable. To top it all off he ended up getting in trouble with that coach girl – what was her name again? – for yelling at one of the other first-years. His defense was that it wasn't his fault they were all too stupid to put their trust in him.

It was clear that Kagami probably didn't make the best impression in the world, but hey, he didn't have time to worry about how he was perceived. Taking a big chunk out of his sandwich he sighed, scratching at his head and turning to face the window. That's when he saw the reflection. His head slowly turned, and when he saw the light blue hair, he yelped and jumped two feet in the air. The boy was sipping at a cup silently, just watching Kagami freak out and spit some of his food to the ground. "What the hell! Don't sneak up on people like that, show some manners."

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, still glaring. "My apologies, but I didn't sneak up on you, I was sitting here the whole time."

Kagami narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, whatever." He opened another burger. "Just, go somewhere else."

"I was here first."

He sighed and rested his forehead in one of his hands. "Fine, just don't…come out of nowhere like that again."

The boy nodded, watching Kagami eat and casually sipping at his straw. "Your uniform, its Seirin's right?"

"Yeah." He said with a full mouth. "You're is Tōō's, no?" The boy nodded. "What's your name?"

"Kuroko Tetsuya."

Kagami nodded and introduced himself to the boy. "You don't look like a high schooler." Kuroko just shrugged. Kagami glared. He didn't like it when people didn't talk a lot. It annoyed him. Mostly because he liked to talk and he didn't want to be the only one babbling on about things. It was awkward.

The boy set his cup down, finally, and tucked his hand down below. "Do you play basketball?"

_Random question…_ "Yeah."

"You seem the type Kagami-kun."

_What's that supposed to mean?_ He felt his eyebrows twitch. "Do you?" Kuroko nodded. Kagami wondered how desperate Tōō was to allow someone like Kuroko on their team. Then again, a lot of people of shorter stature were really good at basketball, most of the reason being they had a special skill of some sort. He wondered if it was the same for Kuroko. "You don't seem like the type." He joked, smiling.

Kuroko just stared at him, standing up without a word and going to toss his cup away. Kagami watched him, surprised to see how no one seemed to pay much attention to the bluenette despite the fact he pushed his way through a small crowd to get to the trash can. He came back and took his seat again, folding his hands on the table. "I have nothing to do. Do you want to go play some basketball with me Kagami-kun?"

"Uh, sure…but I don't have a basketball with me."

Kuroko pulled out his cell phone and flicked it open, typing something in and shoving it back in his pocket. "It's not a problem."

Silently Kuroko waited for Kagami to finish all of his food, following the tall red head to the trash can and out the door of the fast food joint. "I take it were going to the park?" Kagami asked, only getting a hum of confirmation in return. He nodded, spooked by how little the short boy spoke, and sent a message to his parents that he would be home later than usual.

The sun was dropping and some of the street lights were flickering on, illuminating the sidewalk here and there. The park came into view fairly quick, already standing out like a light bulb in a dark room, the basketball court occupied by one shadowy figure, ball under arm, hand occupied by a cell phone.

"Kagami-kun, how good are you?"

"Huh?" He was caught off guard by the question, raising a brow at the other boy. "Uh, good? I mean, better than most of the people at Seirin."

"Where did you go to middle school?"

"A school in America."

Kuroko tilted his head and then nodded. "How do you feel about losing?"

"Excuse me?"

"Kagami-kun, I want to make sure you're not going to throw a fit if you lose."

Taiga felt the anger boil up as Kuroko talked. Who the hell did this kid think he was? "You talk a lot of shit for a small kid." Kuroko shrugged and crossed the street with a still angry Kagami trailing behind him. "And I won't lose, not to anyone." He growled, grabbing Kuroko by the shoulder and turning the top of the boy's body so he could look him in the eye. "I will become the best in Japan. Which means I can't have even one loss."

The boy blinked at him. "Good luck Kagami-kun." He stepped out of Kagami's grip and pushed the gate open to the basketball court.

"Don't say it so condescendingly bastard!" Taiga shouted behind him, throwing the gate open and stomping in after the bluenette.

"What the hell Tetsu? I thought you wanted a game of one-on-one. I got excited for no reason?"

Kagami watched with curious eyes as Kuroko walked over to the figure he had seen before, taking the ball out from under this new guy's grip and holding it with both of his hands. "Kagami-kun, this is Aomine-kun." Kuroko indroduced them and threw the ball at Kagami.

The red head stared at Aomine. He was tall, about his own height, had dark skin, eyes that seemed to be digging into his innocence, and dark blue hair that was mussed around. He could see Aomine stare right back, smirking and folding his arms over his chest. "Really? Tetsu I'm gonna destroy this guy in a second and you know it."

"Of course you _would_," Kagami opened his mouth to say something, only to be cut off by Kuroko throwing his jacket off. "But I'm playing with him too."

Aomine's smile got bigger and his eyes crazier. He began to remove his tie. "Now this is a challenge." Kuroko removed his own tie, and the two made a pile by one of the benches. Kagami watched them, carefully taking off his jacket and unbuttoning the top of his dress shirt.

"Two versus one? Is that really fair. Seems like a no brainer who's gonna win."

Aomine laughed. "Yeah, it'll be me!" He rolled up his sleeves. "Tetsu you throw the ball." The short blue haired boy grabbed the ball from Kagami and went to stand in the middle of the court, beckoning the red head over. "What storm drain did Tetsu pick you up? He's always had a thing for stray animals."

"What's with you people from Tōō, all talking shit like you're big news."

"Go!" Kuroko threw the ball in the air and stepped back, watching Aomine and Kagami instantly jump and raise their arms.

"It's because," Aomine's fingers scraped the edge of the ball. "We are." He smacked and sent in flying to his side of the court, dropping quicker than Kagami and running after it. The red head recovered quickly, bolting off after the dark skinned player.

Aomine got to the other end of the court and reached out for the ball, only to have it flung over his head and back towards the way he had come. "Tetsu!"

Kagami caught the ball before he saw it, staring at the round orange thing in his hand as if it was an alien substance. "Kagami-kun, please move." Kuroko ran past him.

"Uh, yeah, yeah." He started dribbling and caught up to Kuroko rather quickly, he grabbed the ball with both hands, jumped and raised his arms above his head.

"No you don't!" Aomine jumped in front of him, arm stretched out. Kagami's eyes widened, watching helplessly as the other boy's fingers pushed the ball forcefully out of his hands and behind him.

"Dammit!" He dropped to the ground, turning around in enough time to seem Aomine dunk the ball with a loud bang of the backboard. He was breathing hard - and with such little play too - and he wiped the sweat off of his face with the collar of his shirt. Kuroko came up behind him and tapped on his arm. "Yeah, yeah, I won't throw a fit. Pisses me off, but the guy's good." He smiled. "Good enough to be a challenge too."

Aomine threaded the tie through the bent collar of his shirt, not bothering to even try and tie it, and grabbed his jacket. Kuroko rushed over and grabbed both ends of the tie, quickly and expertly tightening the thing to Aomine's neck. "Tch, you brought a weak player Tetsu."

"Daiki-kun."

"Yeah, yeah, stop being so arrogant." He let Tetsu finish and then headed for Kagami, reluctantly holding out his hand. "Thanks for the game, no matter how short it was." He gave him a smug look. The red head stared at Aomine's hand and laughed.

He shook his head. "Whatever," He took Aomine's hand. "Just know that soon enough I'll be the one kicking your ass."

Aomine rolled his eyes. "In your dreams Bakagami."

"What the fuck did you just call me?!" He growled, baring his teeth like a dog would.

"You heard me."

"Ahomine."

"What-!"

Kuroko grabbed them both by the arms of their shirts, giving Aomine a 'shut-up-or-else' look and Kagami a 'don't-stoop-to-his-level' look. "Daiki-kun, if you would please, my mother send me a message wondering where I was."

"Okay," Aomine flung his arm over Kuroko's shoulders and flipped Kagami off before heading out of the park. "Keep the ball, you're gonna need some practice."

Kagami wondered what made that bastard so full of himself. What a dick. He was so angry he was sure that if it weren't for the fact that Kuroko stepped in he would've have beaten the shit out of Ahomine. Or at least he would've tried to. He seethed. The two other players were already a block down, Aomine's arm still around Kuroko. Kagami thought it weird, not many friends walked like that. He wondered just how close they were.

He was answered when Aomine leaned down and grabbed Kuroko by his chin and pressing his lips forcefully to the other boy's. Kagami felt his face heat up. Chances were they probably didn't want him seeing this – but they were doing it so openly! He scratched at his neck. Kuroko seemed like a nice kid, what the hell was he doing with that bag of dicks?

Wait. Why does he care?

He doesn't.

Does he?

…No. He doesn't care?

Kagami rests his head in his hands. Kuroko seemed to have an effect on people, and frankly it was pissing him off.

**A/N: Sorry for the late update, I've had a lot going on lately.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter ^.^ It might be a bit farfetched so I might end up scrapping the thing in a couple of hours…depending on whether or not you guys enjoyed it, because as we all know. Authors serve to please O.e**

**Also, if you have time head to my profile and there is a poll at the top for this story – who should Kuroko end up with? Obviously there are only two choices….**

**Anyways, until next time, please read and review!**


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